Alina Stefanescu was born in Romania, raised in Alabama, and reared by the love-ghost of Tom Waits and Hannah Arendt. She lives in Tuscaloosa with her partner and three small native mammal species. Her story, "White Tennis Shoes", won the 2015 Ryan R. Gibbs Flash Fiction Award. You can read her syllables in current issues of PoemMemoirStory, Tinge Magazine, Jellyfish Review, New Delta Review, Lunch Ticket, Change Seven, and others. Her poetry book, Objects in Vases, is available from Anchor & Plume Press (March 2016). She wants to imagine you reading it. More online at www.alinastefanescu.com.

Macro-Fiction

by Alina Stefanescu

The note tucked into my backpack pocket. First note. A simple question with a doodle resembles a turtle nearby. His fingertips rich with Irish Spring. An answer is what begins when all he wants is an answer. The heft of high school hardback textbooks …